


For the Love of (de Homem) Christo

by Rouletheworld



Category: Daft Punk
Genre: Hospitalization, Human Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Human Thomas Bangalter, M/M, Minor Drug Use, Pre-Homework, Religious overtones, Traumatic Injury, Unmasked, daft punk - Freeform, duft pank - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-19
Packaged: 2018-03-16 09:36:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3483338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rouletheworld/pseuds/Rouletheworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A last family vacation in Italy before their final year in school takes Guy away from Thomas for two long months. When they meet again things have changed, can they go back to how it used to be?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Big Brother Isn't Watching

Music pulsed throughout the club, moving smoke and people into every corner, filling the venue past all reasonable concern of safety and making it unbearably hot. Guy sat concealed in a corner booth nursing a beer, his eyes scanning the club in search of Paul. It was getting late and he promised Mama- as part of her allowing Paul to join him at the club- that they'd be back to the villa by no later than one in the morning. 

He decides to wait until the DJ finishes his set before searching out his wayward sibling. The music is loud and rough and exactly the type of thing Thomas would want to play if he were on stage. Sighing, he sips at his beer, thinking of his friend as the DJ transitions songs to something loud and frenetic.

The next two months on vacation with his parents would be hell without Thomas. Mama and Papa wanted one last family vacation before Guy started his own life away from them.  
He and Thomas practically lived together when they weren't in class, staying at the other’s place for days on end. They had spare keys to each other's homes and neither family blinked an eye anymore when there was an extra body at the dinner table. They were like brothers except... not really. Not since last fall. 

Deciding that thinking about Thomas was too upsetting at the moment, he finishes his drink and rises shakily, leaving a few euro on the table for his server. Fortunately it was a short walk back to the villa. Anything further and they'd need a taxi, he was pretty drunk after all. 

Guy pushes his way through the crowded dance floor, keeping an eye out for his wayward sibling. Paul wasn't out on the dancefloor, not at the bar using his fake ID, and most certainly not in the bathroom where there was a three-way orgy taking place. At least, Guy wasn't interested enough to stick around long enough to double check. 

Deciding that maybe Paul had stepped outside, Guy makes his way to the exit, sighing in relief as the cool night air hits his sweat drenched skin. It was so foggy out he couldn't make anyone out near the building.

“Paul?” 

The sound of shuffling feet catches his ear from the alleyway and he steps towards it cautiously.

“Merde, it’s my brother, take it! Quick!”

“Paul, what the fuck are you doing?”

The smell of weed assaults him as he enters the alley and he shakes his head sadly. “Putain, you know Mama can smell that shit even if you just had a puff. Why bother right before we head back?”

The teenager that had been standing with Paul slinks off into the night and Guy lets him. He’s in no mood to deal with two moody teenagers at this point. 

“Because you watched me like a hawk all night and I had to keep buying you drinks until you paid more attention to the music than me so I could slip out. Not my fault you're impossible to get drunk.”

“Whatever, “ he says gruffly. “When we get in, head to the bathroom and shower. I'll distract her if she's up. You owe me.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Perfect son as always, aren’t you?”

Guy zips his jacket, pulls out a cigarette and slips it between his lips. “Come on. I promised Mama we'd be back soon.”

 

********** 

The de Homem-Christo brothers walk side by side along the narrow sidewalks winding through town back to their villa, remaining silent until Guy stops suddenly, placing his hand on his brother's back to keep him from moving forward. 

“Listen, I know you like to smoke that shit, but try not to do it where I can get in trouble for it? It was hard enough convincing them to let me go to University with Thomas as is. I don't need them blaming me for your bad habits too."

"So I guess you didn't tell them that you're going to be shacking up with him as more than a study partner?” Paul asks snidely. 

Guy grabs for his brother, wrestling him into an awkward headlock . "Don't you dare say that again," he hisses. "Me and Thom have... an... an understanding." He ruffles Paul's hair with more force than needed. 

The younger man curses and straightens himself, giving his brother a excessively hard shove to his upper arm. "Yeah, he's understanding your tongue in his mouth... "

Taken off guard by the sudden movement , Guy missteps on the uneven cobblestones, his arms pinwheeling wildly as he tries in vain to regain balance. "Putain!“ 

Paul grabs for him, but comes up inches short, his judgment impaired by the marijuana and fog.

Seconds later, the sound of tires screeching and a heavy thud punctuated by a blood curdling scream fills the foggy air. 

“GUY!”


	2. A Brief Interlude and a Midsummer's Night Fling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into what Thomas is doing for summer break and what happened to Guy, anyway?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't what I intended to give you today, dear readers, but some unexpectedly bad news has thrown me off my game. I promise you a far longer and more interesting chapter next week. 
> 
> Bear with me, this is just warming up.

Thomas replays the track, pressing his headphone tight to his ear as he concentrates on a 15 second loop of music.

There! 

The tiniest of skips at .09 seconds. He was sure he heard it in the final track but the Sound Engineer who was supervising his internship denied that there was anything wrong with his work.  
He rewinds the loop and marks the spot, smiling broadly that he'd isolated the tiny glitch. Most people wouldn't hear it, but if he was getting a credit on the record for Assistant Sound Engineer he was damned sure it was going to be flawless. 

At first he had balked at Papa’s idea to have him intern at the studio over the summer, wanting nothing to do with Daniel Vangarde but since Guy was gone for two achingly long months, it was something to occupy his time and give him a skillset he could use when they were done with school and could concentrate on the music they’d promised to make with each other. He could hardly wait. Terminalé was going to be an interesting year. 

Guy hadn't called yet, but Thomas attributed it to the older boy finally having a bit of fun and relaxing for once. Even so, he worried.  
The week before Guy left they finally had a discussion, albeit brief, about their future and exactly what they thought of each other. It wasn't quite love, not yet on Guy’s part, but Thomas was smitten. Having grown up in a rather loveless family, Guy’s gentle, non-judgmental demeanor meant the world to him and he was reluctant to let him out of his life, even for two months. 

Guy was the deep, calm ocean in which Thomas could safely hide all his insecurities and problems. He was the first person he thought of upon waking and the last at night when his mind finally quieted enough to allow him a few hours of much needed sleep. 

 

*******

His head hurt.

Like, really hurt ...and his eyes seemed far too heavy to glare at Paul who was obviously playing his damned Game Boy without headphones again. Its vaguely digital/analog chirping cut through his head like a hot knife through butter. Didn't he have any respect for someone so obviously suffering from a hangover? Especially someone who'd managed to keep Mama off his ass? Why else would he still have the Game Boy? 

It didn't matter though, the chirping. Guy was asleep again within seconds


	3. Pressing Concerns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guy wakes up to some unusual circumstances and Thomas is very disappointed in the turn of events.

     Guy wakes suddenly from a dream he'll never remember. His chest burns and a painful tingling- like a mix of a charlie horse and limb that’s fallen asleep- throughout his body causes him to shudder in pain. There’s a loud buzzing filling his ears that cuts straight through his head and he screws his eyes shut hoping it would go away but it just gets louder. 

Everything gets louder... the buzzing, a clanging of metal against metal, a jarring beep, odd voices. 

Wincing, he fights to get his eyes open and he suddenly wishes he hadn't … 

A bright, blinding light shines down on him from above, drowning everything out except the dark outline of people moving quickly above him, their hands a flurry of movement as they pass things back and forth over his body. 

“Mama!” he screams out hoarsely, flailing as he tries to move away, only his left arm refuses to move. 

"He's conscious! Let's get some restraints on him, now!“ 

Pain blooms in his chest and head again and his vision doubles as he continues to try to escape. 

“Maman!” he yells again and a masked figure leans into him. He struggles again, as several large hands begin to bind him to the bed. 

He screams; this movie-like horror becoming far too real. 

“Guy-Manuel, you're okay,” they say in heavily accented French, _Was that Italian?_ “please try and calm down, we're getting your Mama now. You’re in the hospital, you had a bad reaction to a medication and we just had to revive you. We're securing you to the bed for your safety and ours and once you've calmed down we'll take the restraints off.”

He nods weakly, his breath coming much faster, and he gets light-headed. Guy tries to speak again, to find out what happened but his mind is a jumble and his mouth refuses to cooperate. 

 _‘Hospital?'_ He closes his eyes, trying to remember. _'The bar...Paul...walking back to the villa...bright lights...pain. Oh god! He'd been hit by a car...'_  

The sudden realization of what happened drains him instantly and he’s out cold again.

 

                                                                                                                          *****

     Thomas runs up to his room, grabbing his telephone and dialing the villa Guy was staying at. He had the best news and couldn't wait to share it with his best friend. Their answering machine comes on instantly. 

"Guy-Man, it's Thomas.” he says excitedly into the phone. ”You must be out right now, but I wanted to tell you I put a payment down on some equipment for us making music! I'll tell you about it when you call back. Also, hello to Paul and Maman and Papa! Hope you're having fun! Au revoir!“

                                                                                                                           *****

     Guy regains consciousness slowly, finding it difficult to open his eyes due to the pounding in his head. He’s aware there are people in the room - he smells Papa’s cologne and the light citrus scent his mother prefers in the summer months. 

He tries to concentrate on the voices, listening carefully until their words finally come into focus. 

“I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. de Homem Christo. We're doing all we can but until the swelling subsides we don't have a very good prognosis for your son. The shunt is helping to alleviate the pressure on his brain but without a medication that Guillaume can tolerate, it’s going to have to  heal naturally. As things stand, he could be completely mentally impaired, requiring a machine to live as a worst case scenario. Best we can hope for is a partial recovery with sustained neurological damage on his left side. That may be controlled with therapy, but there’s other factors that will have to be met before we can assess that.“ 

He hears his mother gasp then she begins to weep.”Oh, not my baby, please. You have to help him!” she begs. 

His father whispers hushed words of comfort to her. He'll break down later, Guy knows from experience. Papa’s mother was very sick last year and Papa kept it together until he was alone and could cry in private so he could be the strength of his family in public. Guy admired him for that, he hoped to be as strong when it came time to say goodbye to them one day, which sounded like it may be sooner than later. 

A sudden vision swims before his eyes; a lanky brunette with soft curls and an easy smile. 

Thomas. 

He'd never get to say goodbye.

                                                                                                                           *****

 

     “Father, please. Pray with us.” Suzette de Homem Christo pleads. “He’s got to make it, he has such a bright future ahead of him.” 

The Catholic priest, sent over by the doctor takes her hand and nods solemnly. “Si, Signora, let us pray for the recovery of your son so he may again bring joy to your life and the lives of those around him.“ 

“Our Father, who art in heaven…” the priest begins and is soon followed by the three de Homem-Christos gathered at the edge of the bed. 

Guy has a hard time concentrating on the prayer, having just regained consciousness again. He manages to open his eyes for a moment, his gaze falling on a tapestry of Jesus tending to the ill. 

“Please, let me recover,” he prays, “let me see Thomas again and I'll do anything. I’ll stop smoking, I’ll stop swearing, I'll join the church if that’s what you need from me. I promise to do all of that if you let me have my life back. Please, just help me.” 

A warm glow emanates from the halo above Jesus’ head and Guy-Manuel drifts back to sleep, feeling peaceful for the first time in days.

                                                                                                                           *****

     Thomas calls again, leaving yet another message- his third over the course of the week with no response. He checks the number Guy had scrawled on a receipt, making sure he had called the right place and he’s certain he’s dialed it correctly all three times.

  
Sighing to himself, he hangs up the phone and curls up in the center of his bed. The tears he’s been holding back all week finally come and he does nothing to stop them. Thomas eventually falls asleep after he’s cried himself out, feeling lonelier than he has in a long time.


End file.
